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Saturday, April 23, 2005

Reminiscing

I come home after two days of rehearsals and staff meetings, and decide I'm going to kick back, flip through the channels on TV, get bored and end up taking a little nap. Oh, no. That ain't gonna happen. I breeze past SVU (I think I've seen every episode). I stop at the Weather Channel for a minute. It's supposed to rain tonight. Then I land on the most attention-grabbing, time-wasting, nostalgia-inducing show on TV today. You know it, you love it, you hate it--VH1's "I Love the 80s".

I tuned in at about 1986. And damned if I didn't finish out the decade. Almost three and a half hours of a nice afternoon--SHOT TO HELL! And I'd already seen this show. A couple of times! You get Lionel Ritchie telling you what the "Make-Out Songs" of the year were (unfortunately, none of HIS were included!). You get "up-and-coming" comedians that no one's ever heard of giving their insights and witty commentary about music, TV, movies, etc. You even get a couple of 80s "icons" reminiscing about their glory days. But worst of all--all the things about the 80s that you thought you had risen above like a phoenix from the ashes--Milli Vanilli, New Kids On The Block, big hair, acid-washed jeans, etc., etc.--all hit you like the backwash from a warm can of Keystone Light. Or a music stand in the lips....

It's bad enough that VH1 has to subject us to this torture, but they came up with it after the stellar success of "I Love the 70s". At least that show had great things to remember. Platform shoes, Barry Manilow, Vietnam, disaster movies, Three's Company, gas shortages. Ah, those were great days!

But today was all about the 80s. To be honest, the 80s were a pretty good decade for me. But being forced to relive them is just cruel. Thank God I have until Friday before I have to watch "I Love the 80s Strikes Back"!